Unley Cricket Club

Unley vs Reynalla at Kingswood

It was round 3 of the season and the Unley Boys were yet to taste victory or even sense victory with two comprehensive floggings. Dan was quietly confident with a late withdrawal giving him a chance to pick former A Grade captain Andrew Stinky Weinmann. The last chance Stinky had of playing a game outside the A Grade he dominated with a ton giving him the reputation of a bully boy over the lesser grades. This week would see us take on the Reynella C Grade who had won a game and lost a game.

Dan did the usual and lost the toss, but the opposition sent us in on what looked like a road. Perhaps they had seen we had scored 80 runs in each the last two games. Opening the batting was James Rutter and Paul Dixon. It was also Derby Day so Dicko was unable to concentrate and was back watching the races after 11 runs were scored. Next in was the captain Snooze. The score went to 28 before Rutts was out. This brought a collapse Will Spargo in his first B Grade game and the captain were out and we were 4/39. Never mind the great hope Stink was joined by Burts. After some ordinary batting Burts managed to get out for 12 with the score on 64 and the very laidback Alex Odlum followed a ball later and we were 6/64. In danger of another below 100 score. Tyson Smith was next in and there was some optimism from the side that we could recover and plenty of optimism from Tyson himself. The side was suddenly a lot more confident and Tyson and Stink starting building a partnership and at tea we were 6/136. Soon after the break Tyson was out for 17 and youngster Alex Matushik was out in the same over. Perhaps Alex had a fear of oval shapes after his run in with the law over purchasing 6 dozen eggs. (Editors note: a cricket ball is round not oval). A tip Alex if you are going to buy 6 dozen eggs from a servo perhaps you should buy some bacon as well to cover your trail. The wall Robin Swift joined Stink but he was soon out for 0 and we were 9/163 with Stink closing in on a ton. Out to the crease strolled our great hope Matty Prime who over the next 90 minutes put a lot of red faces on the boys watching from the sidelines as he produced a textbook defense time after time to all the Reynella bowlers. The last wicket stand managed 64 runs before Stinky left young Matty stranded at the other end for 4 not out. Stink on the other hand managed to continue his reputation over the lower grades and amassed his highest score of 145 runs and we were all out for 227.

It was now Reynella’s turn to bat and with 10 overs left in the day it was a good chance to get some early scalps. In what followed was not what we were expecting there opening bowler also opened the batting and the start of the innings went 4 4 6 . 2 4 4 with a noball 25 runs of the over, Swifty had taken a hiding. Somewhere during the over we realized this bloke was not coming back next week and maybe this was the reason they decided to bowl first. Dan opened from the other end and after one over Swifty was replaced by Tyson. Tyson first ball pitched up in the slot smashed high to long-on only for Stink still sore from his marathon innings to run 30 metres round the boundary and catch the ball at full stretch. Another wicket followed that over and they were suddenly 2/30 and finished up overnight at 2/45.

The second week was a windy cool day. There was a little overnight rain but the pitch came up a treat. Unfortunately Swifty was sick so he will forever have the bowling figures of 1 0/25. Pete Matushik father of Alex sub-fielding, interested to see how Alex performed with the egg in his hand. The score progressed over the 100 with no wickets to fall Tyson, Dan and Alex were unable to get any wickets. Dan turned to Burts and Spargo in an effort to take all pace of the ball. Burts managed to get a couple of quick wickets and with another by Spargs and a run out Reynella were 6/136. Dan sensing the chance brought himself back on to knock over the tale. He knocked over three and Tyson came back to take one and they were all out for 188. Dan took 3/56, Tyson 2/26 of 15, Burts 2/27 of 12 and Spargo 1/21 of 10.

We batted a second time finishing 3/83 with Spargo getting a bit of form with the bat knocking up 31 not out. A good win from the boys thanks to the special efforts of Stink and young Matty Prime. Hopefully the boys will take something out of Mattys innings and apply themselves just like he did in the future.

Unley vs Modbury at Modbury

Round 4 of the season took us to Modbury. There were many changes this week into the side came 5 first time B Graders Adrian Nobby Kemp after some impressive C Grade performance and new guys to the club Gus Clarke, Luke Kirkbright, Justin Bailey and Morris Mccarthy-Adams. This makes two guys with hyphens in there name with Cameron Edgar-Hughes also returning. Also into the side the injury prone Steve Moody. Moods a Hackham native was immediately put to good use as Gus Clarke had locked his keys in his car. Quick as a flash Moods was in to save the day. That’s seven changes from last weeks winning team.

Dan finally won his first toss of the season. The pitch looked a little green but we chose to bat. Opening up Nobby and Tyson Smith was sent out to join him. It seems Dan had got sick of the countless conversations with Tyson talking up his batting ability. It was a odd start both Tyson and Nobby are very quiet between wickets and the inevitable run out occurred in the sixth over. Nobby tried to get of the mark but was left stranded when Tyson didn’t respond to the dicey call. In came the first hyphen Edgar-Hughes. Modbury’s opening bowler gave him a barrage of short pitch bowling, cam wasn’t convincing and took several on the body. Cam got a few shots away but was out to the bowling from the other end 2/26. In come Snooze to play a captains knock. Like most innings this season he looked solid a few good shots and then suddenly out for 16, 3/56. Moods followed next ball for a golden globe 4/56. In came the second of the hyphens Morris Mccarthy-Adams, a man in desperate need of a christian name. Morris had just arrived at the club on Thursday night and has had a bit over a year of cricket. As tea was nearing Morris was starting to find his form and Tyson wasn’t starting to dominate from the other end. The score had moved to 106 and in the last over before tea, Morris got out to a part time off-spinner for 5. We went into tea at 5/106 with Tyson unconquered on 67.

After tea Burts joined Tyson and wanted to take full advantage of the part timer. The partnership then progressed at a good rate but with the score on 174 Tyson tried to put the spinner out of the park and was stumped for 97. This was easily his highest score for the club and a great knock which deserved a ton. Congratulations to Tyson on his makeshift opener role as his mate Rutts comes back next week to resume the opening position. Gus Clarke the joined Burts and the ball after reaching 50, Burts was out for 52 and the score was 7/199. Early on his innings Burts had been struck in the wrist with a beamer and batted with a fair bit of discomfort. Kirky in his first B Grade game then joined Gus. It seemed Kirky couldn’t hide his excitement at finally reaching the crease and first ball pushed the ball into the gap and took of on a comfortable single. However, he thought two was on and was run out for 1. Matush was in next and him and Clarke put on 31 before he was out for 10 and Clarkey was the last man out for 30. A total of 238 with Bails left stranded on 2 not out. A good score and we were quietly confident of defending. Unfortunately there was still 10 overs we could have batted and need to start batting out the 80 as the season progresses.

The second week we made the trip back out to Modbury to discover a wet pitch. We waited hoping it would get better and although it improved we ran out of time. Next game is a one-dayer after the test match weekend where we head further North to Golden Grove. Good news for Moods who’s two games this year has been at Modbury and Hope Valley.

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